A secret deal between institutions that would have to cover for the shorts out of pocket to sell and buy back the same shares over and over again at an ever decreasing price in an attempt to trigger the redditors to sell their positions at the lower price. They figure that shutting down the places where wsb was organizing - r/wallstreetbets and the wsb discord channel - should be enough to get enough of the users to crack and sell their positions that enough shares will be in circulation that the hedge fund can cover at a price that will keep them solvent. The SEC is a captured regulatory agency whose primary goal is to protect the financial system. I do not believe they will ever care to investigate whether a crime was committed by the establishment firms to collude to lower the price as I described above.